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Animal rights activists claimed a victory Tuesday after Virgin America airline announced that it had cut ties with SeaWorld Parks and Entertainment amid criticism over the treatment of killer whales at aquatic parks. But the latest development raises many questions. Although Burlingame, Calif.-based Virgin America confirmed that members of the airline's frequent flier program would no longer be able to earn points to visit SeaWorld parks, the carrier wouldn't publicly say why. SeaWorld has faced harsh criticism over its treatment of killer whales since the release last year of the documentary film "Blackfish," which accuses the parks of mistreating the animals. ...

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Animal rights activists claimed a victory Tuesday after Virgin America airline announced that it had cut ties with SeaWorld Parks and Entertainment amid criticism over the treatment of killer whales at aquatic parks.
But the latest development raises...

SeaWorld lost a major round Friday in its legal fight to put its trainers back into the water with killer whales during the parks' marquee orca shows.
By 2-1, a panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C., rejected an appeal by SeaWorld...

Amid ongoing controversy over its killer whale shows, SeaWorld Entertainment Inc. reported a 13% drop in attendance for the first three months of the year.
The attendance numbers were included in a notice to the Securities and Exchange Commission that...

Amid ongoing controversy over its killer whale shows, SeaWorld Entertainment Inc. reported a 13% drop in attendance for the first three months of the year.
The attendance numbers were included in a notice to the Securities and Exchange Commission that...

Attendance at SeaWorld parks dropped 13% in the first three months of the year, but park officials say they are still on track to report record finances for the entire year.
SeaWorld Entertainment Inc.'s 11 destinations and parks generated $212 million...

Southwest Airlines and SeaWorld are ending their longtime partnership the year after a documentary raised concerns about the treatment of killer whales at the theme-park chain.
The airline and the park said they reached a mutual decision not to renew the...

With a surge in theme park attendance in Asia, Tokyo Disneyland has surpassed Disneyland in Anaheim as the second-most-popular theme park in the world.
Attendance at Tokyo Disneyland jumped 15.9% in 2013 to 17.2 million visitors, surpassing the...

SeaWorld Entertainment Inc. lied about the cause of a decline in attendance last year, which artificially inflated the value of company shares, according to a lawsuit.
The lawsuit, filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court in San Diego by Lou Baker, a...

China is expected to build an astonishing 59 theme parks by 2020, with international industry leaders such as Disney, Universal and Six Flags playing catch-up with a host of rising regional players.
Long known for money-losing parks, unfinished...

SeaWorld has decided it will not seek to overturn a court ruling that has kept its trainers from getting into the water with the parks' killer whales.
The company's decision not to appeal the orca ruling to the U.S. Supreme Court was found in a filing...

Shares of SeaWorld Entertainment plunged 33% Wednesday after the company's earnings missed Wall Street expectations.
The Orlando, Fla.-based company also conceded for the first time that attendance at its theme parks has been hurt by negative publicity...

SeaWorld says will build new, larger environments for killer whales at its theme parks, and will fund additional research on the animals along with programs to protect ocean health and whales in the wild.
Business for the Orlando, Florida, company has...

Director Gabriela Cowperthwaite's riveting documentary "Blackfish" tells the story of Tilikum, an aggressive bull orca who has lived the last 30 years in captivity. The film's central debate circles around what exactly caused the whale's...

The first of 10 theme parks planned for a 2,000-acre resort billed as the "Orlando of China" is expected to open in late 2013 after three years of construction.
The $2-billion marine-based Chimelong Ocean Kingdom theme park on Hengqin Island in...

By now, everybody knows what to expect from your standard-issue ho-hum water park: body and tube slide complexes with funnels and bowls, deluge-inducing water play towers for the little ones, undulating wave pools and relaxing lazy rivers.
Photos: 20...

At first I thought it was too early to look ahead at the new attractions coming to U.S. theme parks in 2014, but then I realized a number of big rides have already been announced and many more are already in the planning stages.
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I've visited many theme parks in the United States over the last few years as the theme park blogger for The Times' Travel website, but this summer's crop of rides already has me updating my bucket list. Here's a look at some of the biggest new roller...

SeaWorld would no doubt prefer that the public forget about Dawn Brancheau, the trainer who died in an attack by a killer whale at its Orlando theme park more than three years ago. But that's unlikely to happen in the near future — not after the recent...

Attendance at SeaWorld parks across the country has dropped 6% in the first half of the year, but is the decline due to bad publicity or bad weather?
SeaWorld Entertainment Inc. has endured some harsh publicity lately with the debut this summer of...